Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

Warts are small, thick benign lumps on the skin caused by the Human Papillomavirus or HPV. Plantar warts appear on the soles of the feet and cause discomfort when walking, like rocks in a shoe. The warts usually appear where the foot is most stressed, causing the wart to grow flat but deeper under the skin. Most plantar warts do not require the care or treatment of a doctor. There are a few simple steps you can take at home to treat and prevent the warts from regrowth.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Treat plantar warts at home

1. 

   Recognize home remedies limitations. Although effective, home treatment will take longer. If you want your warts to disappear faster, it's best to see your doctor. However, it can take a long time to get rid of warts permanently, even with medical treatment.
   • Plantar warts usually go away on their own and leave no scars, but it can take a few months. The warts can be painful and make it difficult to walk.

2. 

   
   
   Prepare before treating the plantar warts. Soften the tip of the wart by soaking your feet in warm water for a few minutes. Use a pumice stone or nail file to sharpen the skin on the wart. Be sure not to use a pumice stone or nail file using the wart scrub to scrub the area to avoid spreading the virus.
   • Grinding the top layer of dead skin will help the ingredients to penetrate more deeply into the wart.

3. 

   
   
   Try salicylic acid. There are many over-the-counter (topical) products, such as Compound W, that are used to treat plantar warts with salicylic acid. The product comes in liquid, gel or patch form. Follow the instructions on the package for successful wart removal.
   • Treatment with salicylic acid is painless, but it may take a few weeks for results.

4. 

   
   
   Try using duct tape. Cut the tape to the exact size of the wart and stick it on the wart for up to 6 days. On day 7, remove the bandage and soak your feet in warm water for 5 minutes to soften the dead skin on the wart. Then, use a pumice stone or a nail file tool to sharpen the skin on the wart. Replace the tape and apply for another 6 days.
   • Do not use the pumice stone or honed the wart for any other purpose.
   • Treatment may take several weeks to see results.
   • Although the mechanism of action has not been determined, many people report that this method has good results.

5. 

   Study frozen compounds at home. The freezing process cuts blood circulation to the wart. There are many over-the-counter medications you can take at home to freeze warts, such as Compound W Freeze Off and Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away. Follow the instructions on the product packaging.
   • The process of freezing home warts can be a little uncomfortable and painful. Your doctor may use a local anesthetic to further freeze the wart.

6. 

   Determine if you should see your doctor. Although plantar warts can be successfully treated at home, there are cases that require the care of a doctor. See your doctor right away if you have the following complications:
   • The warts do not go away after home treatment or go away and return quickly.
   • The warts grow larger quickly or appear in clusters. This could be a Mosaic wart.
   • The wart begins to bleed or feels more painful after treatment.
   • The wart becomes red or swollen or begins to drain pus. That is a sign of infection.
   • If you have diabetes, peripheral vascular disease or coronary artery disease. If you have these conditions, you Do not treat warts at home but you have to see a podiatrist to monitor the blood supply from the peripheral blood vessels to your feet, and treat warts. These conditions may increase the risk of infection or tissue death due to poor blood circulation.
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Method 2 of 3: Have a doctor treat your plantar warts

1. 

   Talk to your doctor about stronger peeling acids. Salicylic acid over the counter is a peeling agent used to reduce the size of the wart. When home treatments are ineffective, your doctor may prescribe stronger peeling acids such as bichloracetic acid or trichloroacetic acid.
   • To get the treatment going, you may need repeated treatments and your doctor may order salicylic acid at home.

2. 

   Talk to your doctor about cryotherapy. Similar to home-freezing compounds, cryotherapy uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart tissue. After the treatment, a blister will form, heal, then fall off the skin and carry all or part of the wart.
   • Cryotherapy can be painful and is not usually used in young children. Depending on the size of the wart, your doctor may use a local anesthetic.
   • During cryotherapy, you may need to see your doctor many times before you see any effects.

3. 

   Talk to your doctor about laser treatments. There are two procedures that use lasers to remove warts. The first is the laser that cuts the wart from the skin, the second is the laser that burns the blood vessels to the wart, thereby destroying the wart.
   • Laser surgery can be painful and take longer to heal. The patient may be given a local anesthetic and discharged immediately after surgery.

4. 

   Talk to your doctor about immunotherapy. During this therapy, the doctor injects an antigen into the wart. In other words, the doctor injects toxins into the wart to stimulate the immune system to fight the virus.
   • This is for warts that are difficult to cure or that are resistant to other treatments.

5. 

   If the warts are not responding to other methods, you can talk to your doctor about surgical options. A podiatrist can use the technique to remove the wart.The doctor will use an electric needle to destroy the tissue around the wart and completely remove the wart. This process can cause pain and scar tissue. However, the resection is effective and often has long-term results.
   • DO NOT cut your own wart at home. Removing warts at home can cause bleeding and infection if the correct tools are not used and in a sterile environment.
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Method 3 of 3: Identify and prevent plantar warts

1. 

   Determine your risk for plantar warts. Warts are caused by exposure to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) virus. There are over 120 different strains of HPV, but only 5-6 strains that cause warts. The virus gets in through contact with the infected skin scales.
   • Athletes who bathe in public places are at a higher risk of getting warts because there are many people in public and often do not protect their feet. For example, swimmers (both indoors and outdoors in summer) are at a higher risk of getting warts if they use public bathrooms and walk around swimming pools. The risk is also high for people sharing changing rooms in the gym, showers, and hot tub areas - where many people walk barefoot.
   • Chapped or peeled skin on the feet allows the virus to enter the body. Feet that are wet or sweaty throughout the day are also at high risk because cracked skin is caused by too much exposure to moisture, increasing the risk of viruses entering the body.
   • People who have had plantar warts are at high risk of having it again. For example, squeezing / squeezing the warts can cause the virus to spread easily to other parts of the body.
   • People with weak immune systems caused by illnesses such as infectious mononucleosis, Epstein-Barr virus infection, cancer, cancer treatment, people receiving psoriatic arthritis treatment or people with HIV / AIDS.

2. 

   Observe the suspect site of the plantar warts. This can be small, hard and flat skin, rough and bordered. Although it may look like calluses, warts are caused by an infection. There are 2 types of plantar warts: single warts or cluster warts (Mosaic foot warts).
   • Single warts will increase in size and eventually multiply into multiple single warts emanating from the original warts.
   • Mosaic warts are clusters of interlocking warts (with no skin in the middle). They do not radiate, but grow close together, like a large wart. Mosaic warts are more difficult to treat than single warts.

3. 

   Evaluate secondary symptoms. Are the warts painful? Although it may look like calluses on the soles of the feet, warts are often painful when you get up and when the wart gets rubbed.
   • Look for black spots inside thick skin. This black spot is called the "wart seed" but is actually the tiny blood vessels that get stuck in the wart.

4. 

   Beware of spreading warts. The warts can be spread from person to person and spread on your own. 3 small plantar warts can quickly spread into 10 warts and are more difficult to treat.
   • Like most other diseases, warts that are found and treated early will be eliminated with more success.

5. 

   Prevent new warts. After treatment, you have a higher risk of getting an HPV infection, which can lead to new warts. As a precaution, you should wear waterproof slippers or shoes in public places, showers, changing rooms, saunas, swimming pools or public hot tubs. Also, keep your feet clean and dry. Change socks every day and use powder to keep your feet dry in case your feet sweat a lot.
   • Apply coconut oil to your feet at night before going to bed to prevent chapped and peeling skin. Wear socks after applying coconut oil to your feet.

6. 

   Avoid spreading the warts to others. Do not scratch or squeeze / squeeze the wart to avoid infecting others or spreading it to other parts of the body.
   • Do not touch other people's warts and do not share socks / shoes.
   • Wear waterproof flip flops or shoes when going in the bathroom to avoid spreading warts to other family members.
   • Do not leave clothing, towels and socks on the floors of the public changing rooms and swimming pool areas.
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Advice

• Change socks every day and keep your feet dry and clean to treat existing warts and prevent warts from coming back.
• Wear waterproof flip flops or shoes when traveling in the changing rooms, public baths or areas around swimming pools, saunas, and hot tubs.

Warning

• Do not remove the warts yourself at home to avoid bleeding and infection.
• Warts are not caused by infection from warts or clones.
• If you have diabetes, coronary artery disease, or peripheral vascular disease, you need to see a podiatrist for warts.